D Home ⋅ May-June 2005

Christine Allison On Dallas Homes

A realtor friend just called from the front yard of a house off Meadow Road. "Oh my gosh," she said. "This place is UN-BE-LIEVE-ABLE. The moment you walk through the front door you have no idea that you are in Dallas."

I hear that kind of praise constantly, and I am guilty of it myself. For some reason, the best thing we can say about a house in Dallas is that it is not like a house in Dallas. This kind of thinking is so established that no one is struck with the inherent contradiction that in Dallas there are hundreds of these so-not-Dallas houses. "I toured a new condo last night, and I totally forgot I was in a Dallas." Or: "You will love this neighborhood. It doesn’t feel like Dallas at all."

The flip side of something that is so-not-Dallas, is, of course, the mighty insult "so Dallas." Or the world-weary: "typical Dallas."

Dallas is one of the most remarkable cities in the United States. Yet an odd sense of inadequacy persists, and the truth is, it’s old school. Whine about Dallas to newcomers and they have no idea what you’re talking about. They don’t have prescribed ideas about what a Dallas house is or isn’t. They see Dallas as fast-paced and sophisticated. They love the people and the positive energy. And they don’t have that curious shame that Dallas will never be New York or London.

I propose that we boot the "so Dallas" mentality, give our hometown a little credit, and start paying attention. A new generation of designers, architects, artists and visionaries are making their homes in this city, and their work is turning heads all over the United States. We get calls and e-mails from colleagues who gush over D Home, and are astonished that the people we cover are so original and stylish. They tell us that they had no clue that Dallas is such an amazing city.